let's get a check on the early drive. >> we aren't looking forward with rain, but so far, so good. we only have a utility problem to let you know about. philadelphia road southbound at hospital drive. you will see the right lane blocked. as we look at our cameras, traffic is looking good here on 95. between the beltways, you are okay. no problems as you make your way towards the tunnels either. no delays at this time. we are dry. 895 southbound. 15 minute ride on 95 southbound from the beltway to route 32 and as you travel on that southwest corner, only 6 minutes between i-70 and i-95. megan and jamie, back to you. 5:00, 80 degrees. baltimore police commissioner has taken down two signs on its property supporting greg bernstein. linda so is here to tell us more. linda. >> megan, the signs came down

a week before he publicly questioned the credibility. the commissioner says he took the signs down because he doesn't want to distract from his mission of fighting crime. earlier this week, he called for an independent investigation into the commissioner, claiming he asked a friend to consider bernstein's candidacy while in uniform. he denied those claims, saying the conversation happened after hours. yesterday the commissioner said his focus is on fighting crime rather than politicking. >> i'm going to challenge myself every single day, every single second to stay focused on public safety. >> she was questioning your credibility. >> thank you very much. >> now she has yet to hear from the commissioner on her proposed independent investigation. bernstein will have their first live debate today at noon. >> in the studio, linda so, abc2 news. linda, thank you. the view is always the best from the top and investigators

have police chopper fox trot to thanks for a big marijuana bust. take a look at this video and officials say way down below there, you are looking at 34 pot plants growing right near lincoln park. mayor stephanie rollings-blake says this is why they pushed so hard for fox trot. >> today because of those actions, the fox trot is still airborne, fighting crime, drugs, and violence, and assisting our police officers on the ground every single day. >> then we go over to northwest baltimore where police raided a car wash they suspected was serving as a front for a drug operation. inside the car wash right there, officers found a kilo of cocaine, illegal guns, a car, a boat, four suspects were arrested in this and here are the names. they have arrested lloyd green and sean connolly.

they also arrested ivante wright and troy phlegming. >> this morning family and friends in ellicott city are in disbelief after a plane crash killed two men. a single engine cessna crashed tuesday night. jack johnson and jay were both killed. george is a long time friend who flew with jay and says jay had a love of life and adventure. >> he won a prize to go over and travel europe and hike around europe for the summer and i think that made the world smaller to jay. he's a risk taker. always pushing the envelope a little bit. very personal, very engaging. always wanting to live life to the fullest. >> while loved ones are saddened, they take comfort in knowing both men died doing what they love to do. there has never been a

season with so much buildup. tonight it begins. ravens and panthers. can you told me hand? sherrie johnson, 15 hours before kickoff. sherrie. >> jamie, we may have hours to go, but the excitement is definitely in the air. tonight, the baltimore ravens take the field against the carolina panthers in an and exhibition opener. the team signed the wide receiver to help a passing game that often struggled last season. fans want to see donte stallworth to the offense, but don't get too excited just yet. the ravens first team offense will be used only for two or three series and with this preseason opening, there is much talk about making this game safer for the players. > we know you hold your breath and you pray, as far as the big

injury, because there's nothing you can do about that. the fluke injury is the fluke injury no matter you are running a contact drill or noncontact drill. you can't come out here and pack these guys in ice. >> not just concussions, but the effect of playing football for a long time and all those, maybe not the concussions, but blow after blow after blow. i think we have to try to make it better. >> now the panthers have all sorts of injuries to deal with on the other team. the carolina panthers will be without 11 players, including chris campbell, and steve smith. carolina is missing their starting right tackle, a runningback, two receivers, a safety, one linebacker and a left tackle because of lingering injuries. the preseason opener kicks off tonight at 8:00 p.m. now the regular season starts on september 13 against the new york jets.

in the studio, sherrie johnson, abc2 news. >> it's been a while since we enjoyed weeks like this. base hit here. watch felix p.a. here. this guy does not stop until he gets to the clubhouse. another home run by brian roberts right here. i think he is back and brad. brad ferguson threw a two- hitter for the best start by far by an orioles starter. he goes the distance. orioles now 8-1 under buck. >> you all right now? >> yeah okay. better stop, because we have a sewage problem. nothing to play with. >> no. we are going to tell you why it took a phone call from us to get the city to do something about this church's suer problem. before you head out the door, you need to know, do you need that umbrella? let's send it over to justin burke. >> wait until you see the latest images. heavy rain, thunder and

lightning showing up. we'll show you those lightning strikes in a moment. 79, and something is about to give from those clouds, but the east wind at 7 miles per hour. so take that umbrella and take your patience. let's go to the mta. here is mark jones. >> you'll find the numbers 423, 24, and 50 buses converted at old river neck for on going construction. the number 56 bus running 30 minutes late. the 5 and 35 taking a diversion and the 27 and 96 buses are being diverted in the area of chestnut and 34 for construction. for the mta transit team, i'm mark jones. s

now the forecast certified by maryland's most powerful doppler radar. good morning, 10 minutes after 5:00 and those of you watching frederick, this is what's on your doorstep. let's take you out to maryland's most powerful doppler radar and heavy rain. i mean tropical like downpours will come out of this particular system now slamming interstate 81 near hagerstown. we've had nearly a thousand lightning strikes in the last 20 minutes just in this vantage point. watch that number go up as we pull back because you can see really getting hit hard and hammered toward carlyle and harrisburg. that 81 stretch. this cell is passing towards

the east, southeast. we had heavy rain up into the zone. the roads are wet on '83. we have ourselves some lightning that will come out of those. this thing is diving east, southeast. baltimore, i-70 northbound. everybody gets wet this morning. 79, the temperatures will drop and we'll talk more about a forecast coming up. here is kim brown with that traffic. >> that rain not affecting traffic. we don't have any reports of accidents. 895 northbound, that's going to be between the tolls and the tube, having a very minimal impact because traffic is so light. as we look at drive times, no delays around the beltway. from bell air to prodense. no issues between 83 and the top is side of the beltway. traffic moving well. this is going to be the beltway at route 40. that's going to be the outer loop on the left hand side of your screen. traffic doing good on the west

side as well. megan and jamie, back to you. >> if you think chivalry is dead, this next story may put the final nail in the coffin. >> check out this foul ball at monday night's braves astros game. the ball goes into the stands towards a couple and the man jumps out of the way and hits his girlfriend or date. look at her. she's obviously rubbing her arm, looking a little annoyed but the guy doesn't look too upset as he smiles for the camera. >> that's not good. and he kept the ball. look at that. man. let me protect you. >> american idol still needs a judge. >> we'll tell you who is in, who is out when we come back. plus, the judge in lindsay lohan's case called it quits. we'll tell you why she's off the case. [ male announcer ] antiques can be nice.

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look at this. it's so gross. a sewage backed up into a church, they started making calls, obviously, but they have been stuck with a stinky problem for weeks now. we always say at abc2 works for you and we did in this case. a broken sewer line is to blame for a flooded basement that caused the church so many headaches, but it took until wednesday for the city to

finally start pumping that sewage out for good. abc2 news wanted to know why. >> from outside in southwest baltimore, it's hard to tell they are dealing with a devil of a problem. >> it's really nasty. there's probably about 4 inches of sewage in the basement. i mean there is actual feces. >> it is collected in pools in the back of the building. creating a stench so bad you can smell it from across the street. this mess has been festering in the basement for more than two weeks. >> we are constantly calling and of course the sewage would just continue to roll out the back door. >> calling to get action, because as the sewage rolled out, the church was at a standstill. they couldn't get a plumber to make repairs because it turns out, the broken sewer line belongs to the city. >> i was completely amazed. i mean, i was floored. i couldn't believe it. >> frustrated because city

contractors didn't start pumping out the sewage until today. department of public works spokesman says crews responded in a reasonable manner and has been working on the problem in recent weeks. they tried to flush the line, thinking it was blocked and once they figured out it was broken, they had to find a company that could handle the job. he said that took a while. >> i don't think anybody wants to go in there. >> for now, they are focused on the outside, trying to rid the church of the evil. that is the city's responsibility, but when it comes to cleaning up after the sewage is gone, the church may need some help from a higher power. >> jesse reporting now, after our call to the city, a crew was sent to the church to pump out the basement, but no one was there. the city covers the cost of pumping out sewage in situations like this one, but it is up to the church and insurance company to cover the repairs afterwards. cokier does say they can file

claims with the city law office. it's 5:17. local businesses have come to the rescue to keep baltimore city pools open until the end of the summer. the pools were scheduled to shut down sunday because of budget pressures, but grant capital management donated more than $400,000 to keep pools open through labor day. the pools at paterson park, river side, will be open, but city leaders are lobbying the mayor to tap into the rainy day fund to keep all the pools open. now, the forecast certified most accurate by weather rate and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> good morning, it's 5:18. i want to say good morning to my friend, fran. she was sorting out shirts at macy's yesterday. she says she's a big time watcher and she can stay by the water, although today may not be the day to get out there by the bay. we are expecting stormy conditions this morning on and

off through the afternoon. water temperature holding at 83 degrees. air temperature will be about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday. 85 annapolis. again, as we are dealing with storms this morning, and we are right along the edge of a frontal boundary that will be shifting our winds and changing the pace of things. after reaching a high temperature of 96 yesterday, we are now sitting at 79. we are pulling back a little bit, but the rain on our doorstep and these temperatures should drop at least another 5 to 8 degrees once that rain begins to move through. at least the heart of baltimore, probably an hour to an hour and a half away. we are checking out our satellite composite. we have a low if you will around this frontal boundary. area of heavy rain pushing through central pennsylvania right now, extends over toward harrisburg. if you are riding up on 83, you'll run into this. haggerstown up north, you are running into that as well. we have spotty showers around the beltway. we have this frontal boundary that is actually shifting our

winds to the east and northeast, even though the rain appears to be coming from the other direction. we are going to be on the cooler set of the table here as we head through this afternoon. showers and thunderstorms likely to continue through this afternoon. could be heavy, especially with that east wind pushing west of the beltway. overall showers and a very, very humid environment. cooler temperatures over the next few days. 86 today on target with normal. 10 degrees cooler than normal for our 2-degree guarantee. showers and storms this morning. in the next hour to two hours, they will reach us. and the chance of fog with the mugginess overnight. let's see what is happening on the roads before the rain hits some areas. >> we are dealing with a couple of minor incidents. off to the shoulder, not impacting you so far on the beltway. also, philadelphia road southbound at hospital drive, the right lane is blocked because of a utility issue. as we look at our cameras,

you'll see traffic moving well. this is going to be the beltway. that's the inner and outer loop. no issues on both directions. outer loop is looking good. all clear toward 95. no problems up and down the 95 corridor. harrisburg expressway, a little wet, but we'll check the drive times, no delay at this time. 83 southbound, 6 minutes. no problems on the jfx either. 4 minutes from the beltway down to northern parkway. megan and jamie, back to you. jlo officially out. jennifer lopez will not be replacing simon cowell as a judge on american idol. fox is reporting they got fed up with her diva demands. but there's no word on who the next contender is going to be. lindsay lohan is back in the news this morning. the judge in her case removed herself from it. that's the news with this. judge marcia did so after a prosecutor complained she improperly contacted experts in the case without the prosecutor

being present. lohan is currently finishing up a 90 day sentence at a drug rehab center. >> and also in court, leonardo's face slasher, she is 40-year-old aretha. she's accused of cutting the inception star with glass. the star had to get 17 stitches. she pleaded not guilty. alantis has something to sing about, the pop star is having a baby. not sure when the bundle of joy is due. >> maybe she'll write a song about it. 5:22. she was injured in uganda when terror struck. >> now a maryland teenager is back and being treated at a nearby hospital. we'll update you on her condition.

now, the forecast certified most accurate by weather rate and maryland's most powerful doppler radar. >> good morning. we are taking a look at conditions today already starting off with locally heavy rain. you will notice it different in the steam bath we have been in. we are looking at 86 degrees as the afternoon high. our 2-degree guarantee thanks to clouds and storms. if we stick around in a few minutes, we'll have the latest update and there's some pretty heavy rain around the region about to move in. we are expecting showers and storms to continue. we'll be in the mid to upper 80s. partly cloudy and a chance of

showers over the weekend. moisture with rain possible early next week. temperatures at least for this seven-day stretch. mid to upper 80s. we'll have the update on maryland's doppler radar in a couple minutes. time to go to new york. in today's tech bites, the ipad has new competition. presales of dell's streak tablet begin today with shipments starting tomorrow. dell is promoting the new touch screen device as a combination cell phone, tablet computer. it's about half the size of an ipad, makes phone call, and uses google's android small phone operating system. it costs about $300. samsung is hitting the tv market with a bang. the first portable bluray player yesterday. it has built in wifi access. if you want to watch anything in 3d, you have to pipe the

content to a 3d capable tv and wear those funky glasses. if you like football, verison one channel is planning to broadcast the preseason nfl game in 3d on september 2. it will be a preseason match between the new england patriots and giants. verison customers in new york, new jersey, and new england will be able to watch. >> can't get to the gym to see your personal trainer? how about getting a personal training app instead? adidas's any coach app can train you to run faster or play a better game of football. noticed that the app gave him some very personal attention. >> another interesting feature of the my coach application is the ability to tell it what kind of sport you are training for. if you are interested in running or cycling, you can tell the application this and it will tan you for that sport. it tells you if you are going too fast or too slow and it

says speed up or slow down. >> my coach is available for blackberry, iphone, and ipod touch. for information on all of these stories, log on to the technology page of abc2news.com. those are your tech bites, i'm rob nelson.